Minister praises Irish voters with landslide divorce vote predicted
Ireland’s people have shown their compassion for those going through marital breakdowns, a government minister has said.
Josepha Madigan, Irish Culture minister and advocate of the liberalisation of the nation’s divorce laws, thanked those who voted in the referendum on Saturday evening as county after county returned yes results.
Voters were asked to vote on whether to reduce the lengthy period separated couples have to wait before they can obtain a formal divorce.
Indications are that over 80% have voted yes.
Irish Culture Minister @josephamadigan has welcomed an expected strong yes vote in a referendum over reducing the time married couples in Ireland must be separated before they can divorce pic.twitter.com/MrIFZjAEYy
— Rebecca Black (@RBlackPA) May 25, 2019
In 2016 Ms Madigan moved a private member’s bill which proposed a liberalisation of the law, which led to the referendum.
“I think it’s an emphatic unequivocal result, and even though we have a very low marital breakdown in Ireland, it just demonstrates the amount of people who stand in solidarity with them,” she said.
“It’s a real groundswell of support and compassion for all those people suffering from marital breakdown and I really want to thank the Irish people for coming out and supporting them.”
Official confirmation of the vote was expected to come late on Saturday night.
